You couldn’t be any happier as an Arsenal fan. Well, there are some caveats but if you look at the overall picture, we are having a heck of a time. We are sitting at the top in Premier League with a 4 point lead to 2nd place Bournemouth and 6 points over Man City whom we can consider the competition. We have 3 wins in 3 games in Champions League, one of them was 4-0 against the Simeone’s side. We qualified for the Quarter Finals in Carabao Cup with a team that started a 15 year old and will face Crystal Palace and not one of the City, Chelsea or Newcastle. Our FA cup run is yet to start, but everything else looks fine so far. In fact, much better than just fine.
However, the road to success will get much tougher as we move forward, other teams will figure out their mess and every game will get decisive. All we need to do, is keep our head cool, perform the best we can, challenge each other for the starting place and prove why you deserved it and we can win something of value finally. We have got some of the best players in Premier League on bench. We have the best defence in the league and the opposition is struggling to put a shot on target. We have 15-year olds challenging Brightonions and we have players that are making history with the 15 minutes they are getting. The hunger is there, the team has fallen 3 years in a row after getting so close to the title and they surely would have that pain in their heart. I am pretty sure they don’t want to feel it again.
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Right, lets get back to the game. We are visiting Burnely today, and they aren’t in a very good condition. With only 3 wins in 9 games, they are fighting a relegation battle and the three wins they have were against Wolves, Sunderland and Leeds. We are surely the favorites and a win today will either keep the lead to 6 points against City or Bournemouth can do us a favor by beating them tomorrow. But, in any case, we can’t afford to lose our focus today.
Gabriel Martinelli picked up an injury against Brighton mid week and will not available for today’s game. Mikel is starting Trossard mostly in Premier League anyway so it should be fine. William Saliba remains a doubt after coming off at half time against Palace last weekend but we have Mosquera who can fill in his place. He had one bad game but you can expect that from a 21-year old CB trying to fit in the shoes of the best CB partnership in the world.
I am hoping a back 4 of Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel and Calafiori starting today with Raya back in the goal. Both Rice and Zubimendi are expected to start with Eze playing the no. 10 role. Saka, Gyokeres and Trossard will keep their places.
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I am bit sorry for Gyokeres. That lad thought he is coming to Arsenal to bang in couple of goals every game but is being surrounded by 3 defenders every game and is not getting the freedom he was otherwise getting with Sporting. The league’s tougher than anything else and with Arteta’s style of play, where your CF needs to go back in his own penalty box to defend, he will have to work harder to get his name on the scoresheet. However, it’s allowing Saka, Martinelli, Trossard more space on the wings and is ultimately improving our game in the final third so it’s not a bad thing as long as we keep winning.
Also, I hate to be overly dependent on set pieces and winning games 1-0, but 3 points are 3 points. Would I love some David Beckham free kick goals from Eze? Yes. Would I love Gyokeres scoring a hattrick with bicycle kicks? Fucking Yes. Martinelli picking the ball in his own half courtesy to a Raya’s pass and then beating 3 defenders to score a solo goal is a mesmerizing thing, but if you come at me calling the club a set piece club, I would show you the 3 points and the league table. If you happen to be a Liverpool fan, I would also ask you fuck off.
Right, that’s me done. See you during the game.
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Sometimes the fixtures fall favourably for a side and sometimes they don’t.
Meeting a team that’s going through a purple patch is not ideal , it is always preferable to meet a team who’s confidence is low.
Last week we met Palace after they were on the end of a few defeats, 2 weeks prior Liverpool met palace when they were unbeaten for months , the fixtures fell nicely for us.
When you look at villa’s results they managed a solitary point in their first 3 games and have now gone 6 games unbeaten, so obviously facing villa now is a tough game as city found last week so don’t be surprised if Liverpool drop points against a villa side that are full of confidence.
City play Bournemouth today who are unbeaten in the league since the opening day of the season, so again they are another who play a side who’s confidence is high.
Burnley are our opponents today and I think it’s fair to say that they have struggled against the so called bigger sides, losing to city, Liverpool, united, villa and Tottenham , so maybe they have an inferiority complex which should play into our hands as I’d imagine Burnley will sit deep as we control the game, it will probably be a similar game to our win at fulham unless we can get an early goal to draw them out to create space.
For me , these next 2 away games to Burnley and Sunderland could be quite defining as Liverpool and city meet next week and we may see the gap at the top widen, 6 points from these 2 games with Bournemouth, villa , city and Liverpool all playing each other during this period will leave us in a perfect position before we face Tottenham.
Some interesting fixtures from a neutral perspective over the weekend.
The Spud’s vs Chelsea can be lively.
Liverpool vs Villa with Liverpool in must not lose territory already.
City vs Bournemouth is a clash of a team who’s second vs a team that will likely finish top 2.
Depending on results we could see the table really tighten up or see the current top 3 put some distance between themselves and the chasing pack. Early in the season but will hopefully be good entertainment.
I forgot Forest vs ManU – who would have thought Forest would be in the bottom 3 9 matches in.
Saliba made it in the playing XI. The usuals start today.
#COYG
Ambarish
Mosquera’s done well when he’s played and we’ve seen both Saliba and Gabriel look like they’re carrying knocks at parts of the season.
I’d really prefer us to not risk vital players in a game like this.
For a squad that’s got an abundance of wide players we’re fucking short of them today!
We gonna win the league with set pieces. 1-0 to the Arsenal 🎵
Marc
Looks like Calafiori is the primary winger and Trossard is overlapping with him lol
we’re back baby!!
12 of our 17 PL goals have come from set pieces and there are fuckwits talking about us being entertaining.
not sure why Marts isn’t playing…with Burnley setting up with 2 lines of 5 that means the flanks are open, which really isn’t Tross’s thing…probably doesn’t matter though
Marc
It’s entertaining for me due to one reason and one reason at all – it’s fucking riling up the bin dippers and some of the pundits.
TRVL
He’s carrying a knock.
TRVL
Martinelli is out injured after picking a knock against Brighton in Carabao
Ambarish
The media are building us up to knock us down. They know Arteta will do an Arteta and bottle it.
Its what he does.
Marc beat me to it
Marc
I am now rooting for us to win the next 28 games with only set pieces, just to see them all melt.
Saka should have done better.
Lads think Walker the cunt is still a Citeh player.
Ambarish
Some of us pay best part of £1500 for a season ticket plus additional costs to stand / sit in what is freezing cold / pissing down with rain for a good chunk of the season.
A little entertainment is not an unreasonable request.